This invention relates to a fishing apparatus for catching fish with an unattended line.
An often used method of fishing for relatively large fresh water fish including baiting a line and leaving a line unattended. This often referred to as setting a trout line or a branch line. Typically, this method is used to catch large fresh water fish such as catfish in excess of ten pounds. Similar methods are also used for ice fishing. Such unattended fishing lines can also be deployed by anglers from a boat. Unattended fishing lines are often in a slack condition or suspended from a float and therefore fail to provide the progressive increase in line tension that is most suitable for setting a hook to catch a fish for retaining a fish once hook is set.
In an embodiment of the present invention the aforementioned problem is addressed by providing a fishing apparatus including a first fishing line that is secured to a fixed object for retrieval by an angler, a second fishing line for carrying a fish catching device such as a baited fishing hook or other such fishing tackle for attracting and hooking a fish, a float and a spring biased leader associated with the float which communicates between the first fishing line and the second fishing line. The float includes an upper surface and a lower surface and preferably includes a substantially straight, vertical passageway extending between the top upper and lower surface. A first link element is positioned above the passageway and is attached to the first fishing line. A second link element is positioned below the passageway and is attached to the second fishing line. The first and second link elements are preferably barrel swivels which are to large to pass through the float passageway. The spring biased leader connects between the first and second link elements. The spring biased leader includes a spring which can stretch from an unextended length to an extended length an a non-resilient leader line which is longer than the unextended length of the spring. The spring and the leader line communicate between the first and second barrel swivels in a parallel fashion so that the leader may extend while the leader line is slack but is limited from further extension when the leader line becomes taut. its distal end. Fish catching device 7A for example, may comprise a baited hook as shown in FIG. 1 or, for example, a lure having hooks and other fishing tackle such as fishing weights and the like.
With the above described arrangement, tension can be applied to the second fishing line until the spring of the spring biased leader stretches to reach a length which is limited by the leader line. Accordingly, a fish playing the second fishing line, first, pulls against the float, then, causes the spring of the spring biased leader to extend until its extension is limited by the leader line and then finally pulls via the second fishing line against the first fishing line via the taut leader line of the spring biased leader portion. This progressive increase in resistance seems increases the likelihood of a fish being hooked and seems to decrease the likelihood that a fish can break a line by suddenly increasing tension in the unattended line.